Head seaming device



y 11, 1954 M. B. HAWKINS 2,678,014

HEAD SEAMING DEVICE Filed June 21, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet l E5 1 INVENTOR/ Myron B. Hawk/n.5-

AT TUBA/E) y 1954 M. B. HAWKINS I 2,678,014

HEAD SEAMING DEVICE Filed June 21, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I [III INVENTOR. Myron 8. Hawk/n5 BY 7 ATTOP/VE Y Patented May 11, 1954 HEAD SEAMING DEVICE Myron B. Hawkins, Richmond, Califl, assignor to the United States of America, as represented by the United States Atomic Energy Commission Application June 21, 1949, Serial No. 100,354

3 Claims. (01. 113-19) The present invention relates to the art of capping receptacles, and it is particularly concerned with closing and capping cylindrical receptacles or capsules containing charges of fissionable material used in nuclear reactors. While the invention is particularly concerned with closing or capping this particular receptacle, that is, the cartridge for nuclear reactors, the invcntion is of course not limited to a receptacle intended for this specific use. These exposure capsules or cartridges serve as containers for material to be exposed to neutron irradiation in the nuclear reactor and they serve as a jacket for the material during transportation or storage. The

placing of the fissionable material or other material to be irradiated in a closed container is known in the art as canning the material and in the production of radioisotopes conventional can closing methods have been found to be inadequate and in the interest of speeding up production, the present invention is intended to facilitate and minimize the time required in the capping or closing of the capsules.

The type of capsule to which the invention has been principally adapted at the present time is a cylindrical capsule with a horizontally extending top flange or lip. The cap therefor is circular with a depending skirt or flange which is to be crimped under the lip at the top of the capsule or as this process or technique may also be called, spinning of the cap member under the lip of the receptacle.

My invention is characterized by its being of relatively simple construction and is further characterized by its being rugged in its construction and thereby capable of withstanding conditions of continued heavy service. One of the objects of the invention is to provide a capping machine having these particular characteristics.

Another object of the invention is to provide a capping machine as described, characterized by its having fixed backing rollers engageable with the receptacle to be capped and a spinning wheel or roller manually operable and moveable towards the fixed rollers so as to be operable to spin the skirt of the cap underneath the lip of the receptacle to be capped and in close proximity or juxtaposition thereto.

Another object of the invention is to provide a capping machine as described of simple construc tion wherein the upper part of the receptacle to be capped is placed between the angularly disposed rollers one of which is moveable towards the others for spinning the cap skirt to the receptacle, all of the rollers being rotatable on member.

2 their axes and operable to rotate the receptacle to be capped by frictional engagement therewith.

Another object of the invention is to provide a capping machine wherein a plurality of angularly disposed crimping rollers are provided on parallel axes, one of them being moveable towards the others so as to engage the top of a receptacle to be capped therebetween and means to simultaneously rotate all of the rollers on their axes so as to rotate the receptacle by frictional engagement therewith and to thereby spin or crimp the skirt of the cap to the receptacle to close it.

Further advantages and numerous objects of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed described and annexed drawings wherein Figure 1 is a side view of the device showing a portion of the exposure capsule in section. Figure 2 is a plan view of the machine. Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-45 of Figure 2. Figure 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 4--4 of Figure 2. Figure 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of Figure 2. Figure 6 is a front view of the machine.

Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to Figures 1, 2, and 3, the machine comprises a horizontal base plate 46 up-standing from which is a vertical standard or column 44 which is secured to the base plate by a set screw 45. At the upper part of the standard 44, there is cut an arcuate groove and fitting in this groove is one side of a circular body member 40. The body member is secured in position by a screw 39 extending through the up-right 44 into the body The body member 40 has three triangularly disposed bores therein having parallel axes, as may be seen in the plan view of Figure 2, two of these bores are of the same size and the right hand one of these is shown in cross sec tion in Figure 4. Near the ends of this bore are mounted ball bearings ISA and WE of standard construction and journalled in these bearings is a shaft 54. On the upper end of this shaft is a sprocket wheel 68 having a collar as shown which is spaced from the bearing 19A by a collar 5 I At the lower end of shaft 54 is mounted a crimping or spinning roller 4| which will be referred to again presently. This roller is circular and has an extending flange on its upper part. The bearings MA and I913 are spaced by a bearing spacer 48. Centrally disposed on the shaft 54 is a helical gear 41 which is spaced from the bearings it by hearing spacers 52. The gear 4! meshes with another helical gear 41A mounted on shaft 49 which is at right angles to the 3 shaft 54. The shaft 49 is centrally disposed within a horizontal bore in the body member 40 as may be seen in Figure 5. The shaft 49 is driven by a crank as will be described in greater detail presently.

The other of the two similar vertical bores in body 49 has mounted therein a shaft 54, similar to the shaft 54 having similar bearings, a similar sprocket wheel 60', and a similar crimping roller 4| at its lower end (see Figure 6). The shaft 54', however, does not have a similar helical gear such as the gear 47 mounted on it. The relative positions of the crimping rollers 4| and 4| may be readily determined from Figures 1, 2, 3, and 6.

Referring again to Figure 3 of the drawings, in the third vertical bore of body 40, there is mounted a cylindrical member 28 having an eccentrically positioned cylindrical bore therein. The member 20 has an extending rim or flange at its upper end which engages and rides on the top of the body member 43 and a set screw i3 is provided extending through the side of the body member 40 for seating in an annular recess in member 20 to retain it in the vertical bore while permitting it to swivel therein. Centrally disposed in the eccentrically positioned cylinder bore in member 2!! is a shaft l6 which is .iournalled in bearings 19C and ISD disposed in counter-bores at the ends of member 20. |9D are the same as bearings l9 previously described. At the upper end of shaft 56 is a sprocket wheel I! having a collar as shown, which is attached to the shaft by set screw is as shown. This sprocket wheel is in the same horizontal plane as previously described sprocket wheels Ell and 65'. On the shaft i within the bore in member 20 is a spring plate disc 22 attached to the shaft I6 by pin 2| and engaged between plate 22 and the bearing |9D is a coiled compression spring 23 which normally urges shaft IS in an upward direction for the purpose of tightly crimping the lid, regardless of variations in the lid and the receptacle flange as will be described.

At the lower end of shaft I6 is a roller flange or disc 25 of about the same size as the flanges on rollers 4| and 4| and adjacent disc 25 is a crimping roller 26 of somewhat smaller size and having a right angular annular shoulder formed in it on the side next to the disc 25. The shoulder thus forms an annular groove adapted to engage the lip on the receptacle to be capped as will be described presently, so that the disc 25 and roller 26 act as a seaming roller.

The cylindrical housing member 2!! has an opcrating arm or lever I2 extending radially therefrom as may be seen in Figure 2. By applying force or pressure to this arm, member 29 can be rotated in body 46 and when this is done, the

eccentrically eccentric mounted shaft I6 is, by v this action, moved toward or away from the shafts 54 and 54, depending upon the position of the shaft at the beginning of movement. This motion will be described more in detail presently.

The shaft 54' pivotally carries an arm 31 which extends to the right as may be seen in Figure 2 to a position between the sprocket wheels 60 and 63. Arm 37 has mounted therein a bearing 9G as may be seen in Figure 3 and journalled in this bearing is a shaft 35 having mounted thereon a sprocket wheel 36 lying in this same horizontal plane as the previously described sprocket wheels. A flexible link chain 34 passes over all of the sprocket wheels as may be seen in Figure 2. It is on the outside of all of the sprocket wheels Bearings H30 and 1 except wheel 36 and it engages the inside of this wheel tending to urge it outwardly from the triangular formation. The sprocket wheel 36 is an idler wheel, and the idler arm 31 is normally urged in a clockwise direction, looking at Figure 2, by means of the coil spring 2 attached thereto at one end and having its other end attached to a screw 3. Whenever the sprocket wheel I1 is moved towards the others tending to produce slack in the chain 34, the spring 2 moves the sprocket wheel 36 in a direction to take up the slack in the chain.

Referring now to Figure 5, which was referred to previously, the shaft 49 is centrally disposed in a horizontal bore in the body member 40 as may be seen in Figure 3. Near the ends of this bore are disposed bearings |9E and SF in which shaft 49 is journalled. Helical gear 41A on shaft 48 is spaced from the bearings by spacing washer 53 and spacing collar 51. Bearing ISE and the other parts are held in the bore by hearing cover plate 7 attached to body 46 by screws 6, as shown. At the outer end of shaft 49 is mounted a crank 9 having a crank pin I6 and having a handle I, the crank being attached to shaft 49 by set screw When the crank 9 is turned manually, shaft 49 is rotated and through the helical gears 41 and 41A this rotates the shaft 54 and the sprocket wheel Gil. Through the chain 34 all the other sprocket wheels are rotated and accordingly the shafts 54' and i6 are rotated. This rotates the rollers 4|, 4|, and 25 and 26 as will be presently described.

The base 46 has a cylindrical opening therein centered below the triangular formation formed by the rollers previously described and moveable in this opening is a shaft or stem 3| carrying a horizontal collar 33. A coil spring 32 encircling shaft 3| normally urges collar 33 upwardly. Carried on the collar 33 is a sleeve member 28, and mounted therein is a rubber bearing pad 29 having a conical depression in the top thereof adapted to receive the hemispherical bottom of an exposure capsule as shown in Figure 1. Numeral 3i] designates a forked operating handle which straddles the collar 33 and which is attached thereto by trunnion bolts l5 as shown in Figure 6. The forked ends of the handle 30 are each bifurcated, and these ends engage trunnion bolts 43 on opposite sides of the standard or up right 44. The handle 30 is thus rotatable about the bolts 43 to depress collar 33 against spring 32. When thus depressed, an exposure capsule may be placed in the bearing pad 29 as shown in Figure 1 and its upper part then occupies a position just below the flanges on the rollers 4| and the roller flange 25. As the cap is crimped, as will be described presently, the lip on the capsule extends into the annular groove between roller 26 and roller flange 25, the spring 23 serving to urge roller 26 upwardly to tightly crimp the cap.

From the foregoing description, those skilled in the art will be able readily to observe the exact manner of crimping or spinning the cap onto the receptacle. With the capsule in the position just described before spinning, the crimping roller 26 will be engaging the depending skirt of the cap. The operator now grasps the handle l2 and moves it in a direction to move the shaft l3 towards the shafts 54, thus causing crimping roller 26 to exert a pressure against the cap to be crimped. At the same time the operator turns crank 9 which, through the mechanism already described, rotates all of the rollers 4|, 4|, 25, and 25 on their shafts; the cap to be crimped is frictionally engageol between all of the rollers as described, the rollers M and M acting as backing or support rollers, and as all of the rollers rotate in the same direction, due to their frictional engagement with the cap and receptacle, the cap and receptacle are rotated and as they rotate, due to the pressure exerted by the crimping roller 25, the ca skirt is crimped or spun under the lip of the receptacle in the manner shown in Figure 1.

As pointed out above, during operations any slack in chain 3:1 is taken up by the idler wheel 36.

From the foregoing it can be observed that the operation is very simple and positive. No power means are utilized to rotate the receptacle. The rotation of he crimping rollers is entirely manual and since their are parallel and their flanges lie in the plane positive retention of the receptacle cap during the crimping operation is assured. No delicate parts, mechanisms, or movements are employed nor are there any critical adjustments necessitating the constant attention of skilled technicians. The device acoordingly provides a very effective and simple means for carrying out crimping or spinning operations in the manner described.

The foregoing disclosure is representative of a preferred form of the invention. Various modifications, alternatives, and equivalents of various parts or combination of parts may be adopted by those skilled in the art, and, accordingly, it is intended that the disclosure be interpreted in an illustrative rather than a limiting sense and that the scope of the invention be determined by the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. A capping machine for seaming a cap onto a receptacle without the employment of an upper chuck, comprising support means for rotatably supporting a receptacle with cap to be seamed, means over-lying the receptacle comprising at least three rollers each having an upper flange, said rollers being positioned in spaced relation around the top of the receptacle at angles of less than 180 so that their peripheries may engage the sides of the cap, an eccentric mounting for one of said rollers to permit movement of the said one roller toward the other rollers, whereby to exert a seaming pressure against the receptacle cap, a shaft coupled to one of said rollers for rotating it on its axis, and means for coupling said rollers together to rotate the receptacle and cap by frictional engagement therewith while seaming pressure is being simultaneously exerted against said cap by said one of said rollers.

2. A machine for capping receptacles without the employment of an upper chuck comprising non-rotatable means for supporting a receptacle with a cap to be seamed thereto, a frame, means carried by the frame including at least three rollers each having an upper flange, said rollers being angularly spaced around the upper part of the receptacle and positioned to have their peripheries engage the sides of the cap, a rotary member for eccentrically mounting the shaft of one of said rollers whereby by rotating said member the said one roller may be moved towards the other rollers to exert seaming pressure against the receptacle cap, flexible coupling means for joining the rollers, and a shaft coupled to one of said rollers for rotating the rollers, whereby one of said rollers engages said cap to scam it around its periphery.

3. Apparatus for capping a receptacle without the employment of an upper chuck comprising, in combination, a support having means carried thereby comprising a pair of parallel angularly positioned shafts having seaming rollers at their ends, each of said rollers having an upper flange, a rotatable member having an axis parallel to said shafts mounted in said support, another rotatable shaft extending parallel to said first named shafts and eccentrically mounted in said rotatable member, said shaft having at its end a seaming roller having an upper flange, said seaming roller being spaced angularly from and lying in the same plane as said first named rollers, whereby a receptacle with cap to be seamed thereon may be engaged between said rollers, said' rollers being angularly spaced thereabout, manual means for rotating said rotatable member so as to move said one roller towards the other rollers, flexible means for coupling said pair of shafts to said shaft, and manually operated drive means coupled to one of said pair of shafts for applying power thereto and producing rotation of said rollers on their axes, whereby to rotate said receptacle and cap by frictional engagement of the rollers therewith, and means for supporting the receptacle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date ,639,552 Brenzinger Aug. 16, 1927' 1,64%,209 Taliaferro Oct. 4, 1927 1,704,405 Peele Mar. 5, 1929 1,813,220 Young July '7, 1931 1,959,018 Burpee May 15, 1934 2,005,640 Sedwick June 18, 1935 2,055,998 Burpee Sept. 29, 1936 2,1 2,877 Burpee July 5, 1938 2,336,462 Bristow Dec. 14, 194 2,505,004: Peterson Apr. 25, 1950 

